Thinking about quitting (BUT read on to make sure you get it all)

That's right, I'm thinking of quitting graduate school. I say this because every day I receive emails notifying me that I have won a million (or more) euros in various European lottery competitions. I assume these emails are legitimate, so I keep sending them my SS#, bank accounts, etc. I haven't gotten any of the money yet, but I have been assured that this is because of routine legal holdups due to the difficulties of intercontinental disbursement of funds. Unfortunately, despite my new-found (and surely soon-to-be-fully-realized) millions, I have recently been informed that just being fabulously rich does not guarantee interviews for teaching positions at US universities. What this means, then, is that I cannot get the job that I want just by throwing around tons of money. Since this is the case, I WILL BE CONTINUING MY GRADUATE PROGRAM UNTIL I AM AWARDED MY PHD, at which time I will buy up most of the Caribbean islands and split my time evenly between those and my light teaching and research load at the most prestigious universities in the world. HA! It's great to be (about to be) incredibly, fabulous, ridiculously wealthy with Euros. If only I could remember WHEN I entered all these huge lottery competitions.... ;)

Switchfoot Set List

I used that title because it's just not easy to find out what songs Switchfoot is playing on the Apetite for Construction Tour (going on now) with Relient K and Ruth. So here's the November 14 setlist:

Meant To Live
Oh Gravity
Stars
This is Your Life
Gone
American Dream
Dirty Second Hands
We Are One Tonight/Shadow Proves the Sunshine
Rebuild
On Fire
Awakening
Meant to Live
Dare You To Move (encore)

That's the set list for Switchfoot.

For whom the bell tolls.

I fear that with that cryptic title, I may scare some of my readers. Well, BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID! Because I am about to speak the truth, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea... You see, as a self-titled Benfica fanatic, I have traditionally been willing to put up with almost anything from my team. For example, I suffered through a 10-year trophy-less drought. I just laughed when Benfica fired their coach after they tied Leixões the first game of the season. Now, if you're not familiar with Leixões, you're not alone. There are a lot of people in Portugal who had followed professional soccer for years and never heard of this team until the beginning of this season. Follow along with me for a moment (Brewer fans will be able to relate to this better than most--Reds fans too!):
Game 1: Leixões 1-1 Benfica
Game 2: Benfica 0-0 Guimarães
Game 3: Nacional 0-3 Benfica
Game 4: Benfica 3-0 Naval
Game 5: Braga 0-0 Benfica
Game 6: Benfica 0-0 Sporting
Game 7: Leiria 1-2 Benfica
Game 8: Benfica 2-1 Maritimo

In the Carlsberg Cup:
Game 1: Amadora 5-6 Benfica (win on penalties!)
Game 2: Benfica 1-1 Setubal
Game 3: Setubal 2-1 Benfica: Benfica's eliminated from this tournament.

Champions' League:
Game 1: Milan 2-1 Benfica
Game 2: Benfica 0-1 Shaktior Donetsk
Game 3: Benfica 1-0 Celtic

The mere fact that Benfica made it into the group stages of the Champions League is pretty impressive, if you think about it--they're horrible. But rather than simply accept failure in Europe and maybe try for some domestic success, what have they done? They got eliminated from the League Cup by Setubal. Ok, so maybe Setubal's good this year? Nope. So now we're down to one competition, surely we can compete in the Portuguese League, right? Four ties and four wins net you 16 points out of a possible 24. Porto has 24 points. So it would take 3 losses from Porto, and 3 wins at the same time from Benfica, to put "us" on top. Unlikely. Why is Porto so good? Basically, it's because they believe they can be good, they work hard to be good, and they don't have 14 years of mediocre form to remind them just how bad they can consistently be.

So let's make it official: I will not be cheering for Benfica for a few months. I cannot say how long this will last, but I can say that I won't be cheering for anyone else in the Portuguese league either--unless I start bleeding some other color in the meantime.

There, that is the state-of-the-union. Oh, and fyi, Sporting is even worse this year, so keep your green mouths shut (you know who you are!).

Over the Sea and Across the Continent

Yes, we're back in the midwest, and indeed it has been an insanely long summer. It seems as though every time we settled down somewhere, we had a plane to catch, a highway to drive, or some fish to fry. And so we did. June saw us in Portugal, and to a lesser extent, Spain, whereas July saw us primarily in Spain, with a short stint in Portugal. By the time the latter half of July arrived, we were back in the US, but only long enough to say hi to a friend or so, before hopping into the '04 en route to northern Minnesota, via Chicago and Grant. I can't post pictures, because nobody has that kind of time just now, but my foot did an excellent job all summer, both on the excavation and on the trails in Oregon. Oh, those trails were in September, after we had spent a while in Wisconsin on the fishing boats, and then back in Cincinnati, where we still feel quite at home. We had some unexpected visitors for a while, then offered ourselves up as unexpected visitors in due course, but it all seems to eventually bring us right back to where we started, at the laptop, writing something academic to convince The Man to broaden my horizons. Hopefully That Guy isn't reading this right now, but if so, in my defense I really did grow up speaking Portuguese, and it's a completely different language from Castellano, especially the Extremeduran variety. In closing, I would like to include this photograph, commemorating the mid-90s, a time when no gravel pit this side of Loures was safe from jumpers! Oh, and everyone needs to check out the band that is Horse Feathers for a pleasant surprise.

It's Official!!!! I'm Better! But what about everyone else?

That's the word on the streets, thanks to my most recent (Tuesday) and LAST visit to the orthopedic specialists! I am now in possession of one surgically fixed fifth metatarsal on the left foot. You are probably not jealous, but that's just because you haven't seen the cool scar that I have now. I also managed to bring home all the x-rays that they have done over the length of this (6 month) ordeal. Some are better than others, but the ones that show the screw are the most interesting. I'll scan one someday and post it for the edification of my readership.

In other news, I have taken up a cause. Or maybe a couple causes. I am not a political activist, nor am I even a social activist. But I have, over the last few months, become more and more concerned about the way the US and Europe deal with problems in different African nations. Most of the time, we just don't do anything. When we do do something, it's often for the wrong reasons, and when we do things for the right reasons, somebody out there (I think it might be The Man) does everything they can to keep us from hearing about it in the media. So I have joined up with the people of the SaveDarfur organization to try to do a tiny bit to pressure my politicians and representatives to make finding a speedy solution to the genocide that is currently going on in Sudan. There are probably two sides to this issue, but I can't imagine what the other side is saying. My side has two different public images, that of savedarfur.org and the other (probably more moderate and more impersonal) of bbc.com .

So while we're over here on the western side of the Atlantic panicking about the rising price of gas - still little more than an inconvenience for nearly everyone - it might not hurt to keep in mind that there are a lot of people suffering much greater injustices than this in any number of African nations. I don't know how much difference it can make to donate some money to the right people, or to put some pressure on people in power here at home, but I feel compelled to do something. This representative democracy business is nice and everything, but in situations like this I fear it may allow us to become too detached from the immediate effects of the policies and actions of our country. One of the nice things about the American tradition of benevolence is that, even when the politicians are too busy doing politics, millions of other people (usually, but not always, affiliated with religious organizations) invest personally in causes like feeding the poor and protecting the defenseless.

That's my patriotic and personal message of hope for the week.

Political Gas

I recently wrote an email to some friends in response to someone's suggestion that we all boycott Exxon/Mobil in order to drive gas prices down. I figured that, since I haven't posted anything interesting in a few weeks, maybe I could just cheat by pasting that email into my blog. So here it is:

I personally have the idea in my head that the gas that those other
guys sell (possibly with the exception of Shell/BP) is full of sand,
sugar, and the blood of indentured servants, so I like to buy clean
gas from the industry leaders. That said, I have no problem with
sticking it to "The Man", that horrible person who is constantly
dictating to me what I'll buy and how much I'll pay. The problem is,
the world market is mostly driven by two things: (perceived) supply
and (perceived) demand. We demand gas all the time, for everything
that we do, and we have this perception (whether accurate or not) that
there simply is not that much gas out there. So, even though we want
our gas to cost as little as possible, we like to buy the stuff
whenever we want. That's the demand. Most of us probably can't live
without gas, so we're going to keep paying whatever the suppliers want
from us, until we hit that critical point (is it $4.00? they're fine
paying a lot more than that in Europe) where we say "this is getting
ridiculous" and then we change our habits. Exxon/Mobil doesn't just
sell us the gas, they extract and refine the oil as well, in a lot of
places. Consequently, the "little guys" are often buying their gas
from refineries run by Exxon Mobil.

Basically, my point is that I'm not sure targeting a single huge
corporation is going to change the gas price, unless we also decide to
start using just a little less of the stuff (that's not a drug
reference). In order to put my money where my mouth is, I have decided
to stop driving my SUV 6 blocks to campus three or four times a week,
and I will be swimming the Atlantic this summer instead of taking a
gas guzzling plane as I normally do.

B.F.

ps. I take no responsibility for any of the "information" I have
injected into this email. I am an archaeologist, not an economist,
scientist (*gasp* I mean "earth scientist"!!!!), mathematician, or
even an activist, but I did read that one book about economy in the
ancient/modern world by that guy who studies stuff.

Anyone for tennis?

Table tennis, that is. I have just joined the Cincinnati Table Tennis Club. That's right, I now play some ping-pong for fun. Of course, it's not particularly fun to play 7 or 8 matches against different people and get slaughtered each and every time. But on the other hand, I'll surely improve someday, if I keep playing with them, right? Plus, I have all these great excuses for being so bad: I haven't played much in almost 10 years, I have a new paddle (one I'm not used to, see?), I recently had a foot operation and am only now recovering enough to get out and get some exercise, I'm a phd student and therefore not particularly athletic, etc. Well, they tried to go easy on me, even the 65-year-old with Parkinson's (I'm not kidding!), but they all beat me badly. They also kept encouraging me to come back, hoping I wouldn't be discouraged by all the violent beatings I took--guess they don't know about grad school these days. So I'll be coming back, maybe once or twice a week, and who knows, maybe I'll start being able to compete with some of them--once I get used to this new paddle, and feel more confident on my new foot bone, and start training my old muscles to do what they used to do...in other words, once my excuses will no longer make up for the missing components in my game.

I have to go get ready to teach my class now, then I'll spend the entire afternoon trying to finish off another book on my dissertation list. Should be a fun day. Or at least a productive one!

"Completely Healed"

That's what the surgeon's colleague says. That's what the x-rays clearly show. So why don't they want me playing soccer any time soon? Because they're doctors, I guess. These guys don't want anyone ever to enjoy anything. Fortunately, they have recommended that I start a walking/elliptical program, and then gradually move into some easy running. I have yet another visit a month from now, where they'll probably tell me that I'll need another 8-12 weeks before I can really do anything interesting on my foot, so in the meanwhile, I'll be doing a lot of around sitting. That's the latest on the foot. Surely there's more interesting news somewhere else on some other topic...

Busy?

So you'd think I just gave up on the blog, but in fact that would be a wrong way to look at things. I prefer to think that I have just been too stinking busy to post as frequently as I should. Of course, in the bigger scheme of things it's far more important that I keep up the writing on my dissertation, and that I make sure my class is going reasonably well. But my (3) loyal readers out there are surely pining for the occasional note about my foot's verrrrrrry slow recovery, as well as any events that might be of more general interest. I'll start with the latter: our good friend Past-Sho managed, though means unknown to us, to snag a huge trove of tickets to the local (amateur) hockey team, the Cincinnati Cyclones. So we have been fortunate enough to accompany him to some of those games throughout the season. Now that the playoffs are into full swing, we have been trying to follow "our" team, even attending some of the playoff games just to make sure that we maintain our winning ways. I have discovered that I am the single weak link in the Cyclones' chain, because they seem to lose when I come to games, but they win every other game. I should note that it's a bit weird to be attending hockey games now that summer is really starting to shine, but I guess that's how these things work.

As for my foot's progress, I'm pleased to report that it feels today exactly as it did nearly three months ago, when the operation was done. I have a visit to the surgeon tomorrow, and am really hoping that the x-rays will convince him that the bone is completely healed. But I have learned enough over the past months to know that that's unlikely at best. He may say the bone is healed, but he'll also warn me to take it easy on it for a while longer. Or, more likely, he'll say that this darn' bone just doesn't seem to want to heal, so I should keep taking it easy for a couple more weeks (or months). I'm mostly just planning for the worst case scenario, so that if I get any news other than that, I'll be quite pleased.

We're doing the Aeneid in my class these days, and so I should get back to that.

Happy (almost) May, y'all!

More stuff?

Man, it sure has been a while since I wrote anything. (I don't mean I haven't been working on my dissertation or my class, I mean I haven't been "blogging..." - in case anyone's wondering) So what's going on lately? Nothing. Well, almost nothing. I have been working on the dissertation, teaching the class, and spending time with Alicia. I also recently discovered this new website called "ebay," which apparently allows people to buy and sell stuff in auctions, most of which are probably rigged. I have been researching the proper lens for my camera, so that I can suddenly and magically learn how to take good pictures with it. I'm not talking about the digital camera, of course, all those pictures turn out great every time. I'm talking about the old-fashioned film camera that I have. I have been kicking around the idea of getting into archaeological photography for a couple years now, and one of the things that I'll have to do is learn how to actually take a decent picture. So, I shot a roll of pictures last month. Most of them turned out ok at best, and part of the reason for this is that I'm not very good at it. But I also noticed that some of the pictures aren't very good because there are some issues with the lenses - so parts of the picture (the corners and edges) might be underexposed or slightly out of focus even though the rest (usually the middle portion) looks fine. As it turns out, there's more to taking pictures than just pulling the trigger. I don't care much about most of that, but the point of all of this is that I am trying to track down a really good lens so I won't be able to blame my poor photography on my equipment. Then I can figure out how to fix my problems and maybe actually become a decent photographer.

As far as the "fixed" foot goes, I'm still just walking around and taking it really easy on the foot. I'm not supposed to be doing anything more than that for three more weeks or so - remember, I decided to wait until I have gotten a good x-ray from the surgeon before I can do anything even remotely strenuous.

I guess that's as exciting as it gets around here. At least, that's all I can think of right now. Not very interesting, but that's what I have to work with right now!

Well, that's settled.

So I was hoping I'd get the clean bill of health at my "last" visit to the surgeon today. I was also hoping he'd suggest I immediately begin playing soccer. I was sadly and sorely mistaken. First off, I can't go back to my running routine for what he calls "a month." I didn't bother to ask if that means until the 27th of April or just 4 weeks from today. Frankly, it doesn't matter. As usual, the x-rays look fine, the bone is healing nicely, etc. But there are still some indications of callus (sclerosis?), deposits on the inside of the bone in the area of the fracture, which seems to mean that the bone hasn't healed completely on the inside. I was annoyed that they didn't show me the x-rays this time around, but I was clever enough to look at them before I got into the office, so joke's on them. I thought they looked better than the last time, but I can definitely see where there might be some indication that things aren't completely healed yet.

Secondly, (remember the "first off"?) I'm scheduled to see the surgeon again in 6 weeks. So I don't imagine I'll get any sort of clearance to have any sort of athletic fun until then. That's early May. I guess I'll be able to get a lot of important work done in the meantime, and maybe I can pack on those elusive injury pounds that I have heard so much about....

So that's the status of my foot repair. There was no suggestion that I started back to doing things (as per my previous posts, for example) too early, only that it is better to wait another month before resuming running activities.

I just read a study yesterday that presented evidence for 15 patients who underwent my same procedure. In 6 of the cases, the patients re-fractured the same site, and all 6 of those were among the group of 9 college athletes included in the study. The study concluded that the 6 subjects who re-fractured the site had returned to activity earlier than the others (at 6 weeks instead of the "safer" 8). Of course, in this study "return to activity" means playing their sport just like before the injury. So that doesn't really change the timeline I was operating on, but it might indicate that 8 weeks before any running at all would be a better baseline in the ACC program that I have been following than the 6 weeks that they suggest.

See, I'm a medical researcher now. Brilliant. Back to my Hydatius.

Kentucky and Back Again

So classes start(ed) today. Spring Break is officially a part of (still recent) history, and we all have a full quarter of classes to keep us occupied for the next 10 weeks. Or 11, if you count exams. Which I don't. So Alicia and I went to the great state of Kentucky with some friends over the weekend. It's literally right across the border from us, but of course that wouldn't really constitute a trip, so we made our way all the way across the state - to the very border with Tennessee. Our friends have a log cabin way down there, so we just relaxed and enjoyed being in warm weather and the outdoors. These days, a "log cabin" doesn't really mean what it used to mean, so I should say that this cabin is in a relatively new development, complete with electricity, running water, and inside bathrooms. On the other hand, there's no cable tv out there yet, so it's still somewhat "primitive"....

Well, Kentucky is nice, but somehow the country makes me nervous, especially parts of the country I have never visited before. I would probably feel more comfortable if I knew I could run, should the need arise, but (outside) running is still for people with healthy and strong ankles. I also didn't get to go fishing, but that might have sweetened the deal for me as well. On the other hand, I left most of my work at home, so I couldn't do anything except relax. In conclusion, I guess I'm glad to be back in a city, even if it has to be this one. It's nice to be able to make quick trips to the middle of nowhere over the weekend, but it's also nice to sort of feel like you're back home after such a trip. That's what I say, anyway.

And as for the foot, I have been doing my exercises and walking on the treadmills and even jogging occasionally. I still have that last appointment with the surgeon tomorrow, so I'll have to add an update after that, complete with x-ray analyses (too bad they haven't gone digital over there, I could totally post my foot on the internet!).

Groovy.

Time for a Run

Seriously. It is now seven weeks since my foot had a screw added to its skeletal structure. I am hoping that the screw has done its job, because it has now been a week since I started my fast walking program on the treadmill. I have no pain to report beyond the annoyed underfoot area that I described a few days back. Today I reached a full 25 minutes of pain-free jogging, and if all goes well tomorrow, I'll be running outside on "grass" by the end of the week. That's good news for me. I am scheduled to see the surgeon a week from today, so I'm expecting a last series of x-rays at that time, to find out if I am going to be allowed to play on the intramural soccer teams that I have registered for the Spring season.

You're probably wondering what I've been doing with all my time outside the gym. Simple: I have been working on my dissertation. This week I have also been forced to acquire and begin reading five books that are going to be assigned to my students in the upcoming quarter. I have read only two of them previously, so I will be doing a lot of heavy reading over the next few days in order to make sure that I get a decent syllabus together.

I guess that's what's going on around here. Some Spring Break!

Progress

I don't really do politics, but I'm OK on human rights. So I strongly encourage all 3 readers to contact their congresspeople (you can do a search here or here ) and other politicians and leaders (I'm thinking the US President and State Department officials, in particular) in order to voice your concerns over the situations in Darfur and now Zimbabwe. If you don't know about them, it's because the US news agencies are doing a woefully inadequate job in informing the public, presumably because 8 federal attorneys were fired recently under what may or may not be suspicious circumstances. So, if you feel like your news agencies, local or national, are letting you down by not reporting on important international crises and clear human rights violations, contact them. I imagine you can do this at places like abcnews.com, nbc.com, cbs.com and foxnews.com, among dozens of other sites (I don't actually imagine that, I already did it so I KNOW you can too!). In the meantime, do a google search for Darfur or Zimbabwe and read up on what much of the international community is apparently just hoping will go away.

Now, on to less important things.

As you may have anticipated, Tuesday last marked my first full day in a left-foot shoe since the 2nd of February, when they chopped my foot open and screwed the 5th metatarsal back into one piece. I had no pain in the area that got sewn shut, or in the area that has the screw now. But it came as something of a surprise to me that I have a condition that sounds similar to something known as "plantar fasciitis." I'm diagnosing my own situation here, but it seems that the "fascia" of the left sole had become somewhat atrophied or tightened or something through 6 weeks of disuse. Consequently, now that I am beginning a walking program, these ligaments are being stretched beyond their comfort level, causing me some pain. I have to keep working on this to make sure it doesn't plague me for a long time, and as long as I do my stretches and do not have a serious case of the condition, it should eventually go away. I hope.

Meanwhile, my friends over at the ACC have outlined their rehabilitation program, and I'm doing my "fast walking program" to try to regain my flexibility and ankle and foot strength. I'm still hoping for a return to full use by early April, but I have to wait for my late March x-rays and my (hopefully) last visit with the surgeon.

So that's the news for now. Exciting stuff, no?

300? I Just Don't Know

So there's this new movie out, you've probably heard of it: 300. It's about the 300 Spartans who "single"-handedly defended Greece against the million-man army of Persia under Xerxes around 480 B.C. There's the story line. Now, the movie is ostensibly based on a graphic novel of the same name, but we can safely assume that the graphic novel is "based" on the account in Herodotus, the Greek historian. So we have a movie based on a graphic novel based on an ancient history based on some primary sources.

If I can overlook all the historical confusion the movie might cause (let's say the movie is only related to an ancient account in that we know about the "event" that the movie claims to reflect through an ancient source - there is no relationship beyond that, and no such claim is made, so far as I know), I think my main problem is that the movie attempts to recreate the graphic novel in mood and cinematography, and consequently we are left with a rather flat, cartoonish movie. The narration is perfect for those little rectangular boxes in the corner of the frames, but is bland and uninteresting as a film technique. When a few thousand Persian soldiers get hacked up, slashed open, and impaled, we hear sounds like "splat," "squirt," and "crunch" - Batman tv series, anyone? Kapow! Oh, and these sounds are all accompanied by the blood splatters that decorate the movie logo.

I'm still trying to decide if I can like this movie. I certainly didn't enjoy watching it, but maybe I'll figure out that I just didn't get it the first time around, and eventually I'll learn that I should think it's a good movie (usually, this approach just leaves me more convinced that the movie's not a very good one). I'd be interested to hear what other "real" people thought of it, but mostly I can only find these "film critics" and their gushing reviews, so that just makes me feel more like I'm better than this movie.

Fixation of the 5th Metatarsal Costs $10 Grand

That's what my foot looks like now. It used to be somewhat worse, but not much worse. See the tiny little scratch down along the edge of my sole? That's where they hacked me open and screwed the bone together. I have seen some pictures of similar procedures online, it's quite nasty inside the foot. But in some cases it looks like there's no more than a tiny little incision, just big enough to get the screw and its washer through - no idea what makes different surgeons do things differently. At any rate, the 5th metatarsal of my foot is finally almost whole, according to my calculations. The x-rays are still whatever they were last time, but I am expecting to be out of the boot within a few days, which makes me very happy. I haven't had any pain at all over the last couple weeks, and I finally started into physical therapy last week. They had me doing the basic core strengthening exercises that everyone probably does regardless of the type of injury, but there are some that might actually be helpful as I start using my ankle joint again - stretches and foot strengtheners and the like. I feel confident that I could start going around in shoes right now (in fact, I do occasionally, just around the house and for doing my exercises), but I am trying to be a good patient and be patient enough to make sure that everything heals up properly.

In other news, I have made a few phone calls, and here's the verdict: the foot surgery that I underwent is going to cost about 10 grand. My insurance should cover the bulk of that, but it looks like I'll be doing some serious groveling to try to whittle my portion down to a more manageable sum after they're done with their part. So be advised - even though nobody publishes these prices anywhere, and it's nearly impossible to get hospitals to quote you a price before the procedure, any operation, no matter how "minor" or short, is going to set you back a good bit.

Here is No Why?

So I have to wear the boot a few more days. Big deal. At least I can hobble around pretty well by now, even with the stupid thing velcro-ed on. I even got to the gym the last couple of days, and I got to drive this really cool machine - it's apparently called a "sci fit pro" machine. Needless to say, I got a really great workout on that - burned like 700 calories in 45 minutes. More importantly, I got the injured leg back in action for its second bike-style trip, and it felt really good the whole time. That's what this is all about, after all, getting the leg back in working order. That and the heart and lungs.

Here's a rule - don't try to get in shape alone, find someone to partner up with you so you can totally help each other stick to the program. There, just came up with that myself.

You'd think a guy like me, grad student in rehab, would totally be able to get a ton of time in at the gym. Problem is, I'm also supposed to be writing the dissertation, which means that every moment I spend in the gym is secretly wasted time. Fortunately, when I do work, I am quite productive. I'd prove it, but who has the time to read all of that? Heck, who has the time to read all of this?

Bones to not break

Well, here we are almost four weeks after surgery, and it was time today to visit the surgeon. He says the x-rays look really good (my heart skips with optimism) and I should wear the boot for two more weeks (deep, bitter disappointment). After two more weeks in the boot with no pain, time for the running shoes (slight glimmer of ok-ness) and walking on a treadmill according to a p.t. program (I'm leaning toward doing this stuff on my own). Oh, and he says I can do p.t. if I want. So I scheduled a visit, maybe it costs me $40 or so, but it's worth it if I can get some safe exercises and that sort of thing to do on my own. I'm not made of money, after all. I am also allowed to ride a stationary bike (in real live running shoes!) as of today, so maybe we're off to the gym this afternoon after all.

Meanwhile, I issue a stern warning: don't break your metatarsals, but if you really insist on doing so, make sure you break them violently, so they have a better chance of healing. These stress fractures are totally bogus!

Things to do when not working

Archæology is fun and everything, but we recognize that there is more to life than that. So what do I enjoy doing in my free time?

I enjoy a game of soccer now and again. That's hobby #1, if you can call it a hobby--when I can't play soccer, I like to watch soccer or listen to soccer, or read up on the latest gossip in soccer news. I also enjoy watching tv and movies, Malcolm in the Middle and the Simpsons taking the two top slots in the TV category. Listening to some groovy music also keeps me focused on whatever I happen to be reading, so even though I often do that when I am conducting "archæology," it should count as another occupation. Check out Jake Armerding and Jason Harrod on iTunes if you get a chance, I'm really enjoying their music lately.

I am supposed to play the guitar--I have three of these machines--but it is apparently not one of the things to which I choose to dedicate much of my free time. Camping and hiking also fall into that category, though I should say that I would do a lot more of both if it weren't for the constant demands that I allow my studies to place on my time.

Oh, I would work on my car occasionally, if I had one that needed work. Since a relatively late-model toyota doesn't demand any attention, I have taken to researching methods of causing mechanical failure in order to have to apply myself to fixing the car. For now, I am only considering replacing the factory-installed air filtration system with a more efficient system. Maybe that will happen this summer.

Did I mention that I like coffee?

This post has been a very long time coming, and since the Academy Awards are now showing on TV, I have both the time and the concentration level necessary to write it.

I recently came across a terrible notice on a blog and was so horrified by the "news" that I felt compelled to write a blistering comment in response (after 25 others had done the same, sometime last year). If you prefer not to click on the link above and research my complaint, here's the quick and dirty summary: somebody suggested that Starbucks is going to be opening some shops in Portugal over the next few years. Of course, I immediately checked the Starbucks website for further news on this subject and discovered (much to my delight) that there is no Portugal office - yet.

A few words about coffee and Portugal might be appropriate here. Portugal is a nation addicted to coffee. Not that nasty stuff that you and I can order at any number of gas stations and diners throughout the suburbs and urbs of America, but real, dense, rich espresso coffee. This is the stuff that everyone enjoys, whenever a moment offers itself, or indeed, whenever a moment can be procured. Espresso in Portugal is not just a consumer phenomenon, a physical or psychological addiction like that suffered by so many of us here in the U.S. Rather, espresso consumption in Portugal is an expression of and a logical complement to a much stronger cultural force - I'll call it leisure, for lack of a better term.

Simply put, the Portuguese know more about enjoying the little things in life than a lot of the rest of the world. That doesn't mean that everything is perfect there, but I would suggest that spending time with friends over a coffee (in the morning, afternoon, or evening) is more important to many of the Portuguese, in theory AND in practice, than squeezing out those extra fifteen minutes of work over at the office.

That said, I am not entirely convinced that we need to worry about Starbucks taking over the coffee culture of Portugal. I might be willing to accept the possibility that the Portuguese care more about the relaxation and spending time with their friends than they do about coffee, but I wouldn't want to bet on it! Replacing Portuguese espresso with Starbucks would certainly test a lot of friendships - and increase job productivity pretty substantially - but it would also leave a(nother) population of coffee lovers with a bad taste in their mouths.

Fortunately, that will never happen. The reasons for this are numerous, but first and foremost is the fact that once you have tasted the real thing, you just won't settle for anything less. If you're ever in Portugal, I recommend avoiding at all costs any café that advertises Sical, Buondi, or, much worse, Delta Platina (Platina is the specific roast). Ordering a coffee in one of these will have such a negative effect on you that your next mass-marketed coffee, even with its whipped-cream soy vanilla chocolate caramel sprinkled cinnamon foam (disguise), will turn to ashes in your mouth. Some things just were not meant to be shared with mortals, and while I mention Buondi and Sical above, truly Delta Platina stands all on its own in this regard.

Starbucks investors should all be thanking their lucky stars that Delta Platina is virtually impossible to find here in the U.S. My Dad might be able to send me a small bag now and again, but as far as I know there is no long-term plan to market this coffee here. This means that the secret is safe from almost all of us, but more importantly, it means that the excellent roasts produced by those marketing their wares to Portuguese cafés can continue to produce the best material, roasted to the high standard of the most discriminating taste in the world.

I Have Started A Blog: 5th metatarsal fracture

I don't intend for this to be interesting to anyone. Nor do I plan to password protect the thing. Mostly, I am starting today's blog with a discussion of my foot situation: a dreaded Jones Fracture of the Fifth Metatarsal.

I am just recovering from a "Jones Fracture," which is apparently a kind of stress fracture located in the fifth metatarsal, near the base but not in the end of the bone. I officially found out about the fracture in November, but had been having some pain when playing soccer since August/September--it just wasn't enough to get me to the x-ray room. I was not able to schedule a surgery until February, so I went around in a very stiff walking shoe hoping it would allow the bone to heal. Unfortunately, it didn't, and I finally opted for the standard fix, internal fixation with a titanium screw.

It is now almost three weeks later, and I am doing quite well. The operation lasted about 20 minutes, and the initial cast was on for 3 days. Then I progressed to a stiff boot with no weight bearing for 10 days. From that point the surgeon said I could return to weight bearing as pain dictated, so I have been walking in my boot for the last week. In another week I am expecting to return to walking in normal athletic shoes and training again on a treadmill or elliptical. The surgeon says the estimated return to full fitness is six weeks from the surgery date, so I am reasonably happy with that prognosis.

From what I have been able to determine, the standard solution to the Jones fracture is screw fixation--the studies I have read (mostly online, I admit) indicate it can take up to 12 weeks for the fracture to heal without the surgery, and even then only with complete immobilization. To make matters worse, there is a pretty high incidence of recurrence without the surgery (I have read studies that suggest it is as high as 80% in athletes, though 60-70% is more common, within 18 months of "total bone healing"). If I ever notice a nagging pain in the outside of my foot while playing soccer or running (say with my other foot), I will definitely seek advice of an athletic physician to make sure this gets addressed in a timely fashion. I haven't played soccer since November 18 (well, I did play once in January, but it didn't last much more than about 20 minutes), and it's driving me absolutely insane!

That is the (current) story of my Jones Fracture: future updates as events warrant.